Saturday 20th September – Shoreline Quadrathon

The event starts with an 800 m sea swim, a double loop within Summerleaze bay, protected by the breakwater. Next a 30 km cycle following the coast road to Widemouth, Wanson Mouth and Millook before meeting the A39 at Wainhouse Corner and returning to Bude. Then a 10 km Kayak paddle, which is a double loop of the Bude canal. And finally a 10 km run along the canal towpath to Helebridge, following the marked footpath across the fields to Widemouth and returning to Bude via the coastal path.

Local Bude Rat Chris Hammond came in 3rd Individual in an over time of 2:54:25

In the Relay event, Bude Rats had Alex Mabey in the swim and Steve Martin on the run come in 2nd in a sprint finish to the Relay winners.

Saturday 23rd August – Trelissick 10k

Sunday 17th August – Tough Mudder

Tough Mudder is a 10-12 mile obstacle course designed to test all-around strength, stamina, teamwork, and mental grit. Tough Mudder is Probably the Toughest Event on the Planet – according to Tough Mudder.

Heidi Redman and Paul Kinsman both took part in Sundays event in separate teams – well done !

Sat/Sun 12th/13th July – Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon

Starting in Deepdale competitors fanned out through Grisedale and up and over Helvellyn, before dropping down towards the top end of Thirlmere for the overnight camp. Sunday started with an initial steep climb back out from Thirlmere before returning over the Helvellyn ridge back to the finish.

Stephen Hutchinson paired with his son John completed the Harter Fell Category in a Total of 09:52:14 (Saturday 5:50:06, Sunday 4:02:08)

Fri/Sat/Sun 11th/12th/13th July – The Long Course Weekend

On the Friday entrants took part in the full 2.4 mile swim on North Beach, Tenby.
Saturday saw the contestants take things a little easier, with a 112 mile sportive taking you through some of the most picturesque areas of South Pembrokeshire.
The final day of the weekend, Sunday, sees the contestants take on the 26.2 mile marathon between Tenby and Pembroke.

Sunday 12th May – Bideford 10k

The weather may have deteriorated during the day but the enthusiasm and enjoyment grew as each of us finished! Fantastic turnout of RATs, RAT relations and friends. I doubt that there have been so many RATs running along Bideford Quay since the middle of the 18th century. In total we had 12 top ten category finishes. CongRATulations to everyone who competed and a big thank you to all the rodent relatives that turned out to support. A very special CongRATulations must go to the 8 Zero to 10 runners (3 now members) who also ran amongst us!

With so many of us (several running their first 10k (first race even)) there must be someone who would like to share their thoughts and memories of the day. There is plenty of room on the gallery page amongst the photos so please send me your thoughts (just one line from everyone would be great!) info@buderats.co.uk

Apologies to anyone who feels their times are misreported. It’s taken the organisers 3 days to correct all their errors and several runners who should have been given awards on the day have missed out.

Sunday 21st April – London Marathon

Tuesday 16 April – Spring Handicap race

This was the highest turnout so far with 31 runners including a good number of personal bests around this 5 mile route. Great to see several new members and guests also giving it a go.

CongRATulations this time, go to Leila Reay for being the first back to the Pitch & Putt Hut, who not only significantly improved her time but is also the first RAT to achieve a Gold Standard time in the recently started Bude RATs Awards Schemes. If this all sounds double dutch to you, please take a look at the 2013 Awards page.

Our thanks also go to Adam Kent and Sarah North this time, for finishing within 2 seconds of their handicap time.

The evening concluded with everyone toasting the recent marriage of Chris Tucker and Sarah Fennell. So CongRATulations to you too. Our final thanks must go the Mark Hutcheson for calculating the handicaps and organising the start and finish. Full handicap results are here.